ABSD remission for married couples: the 6-month sell-after-buy clock
Buy your next home before selling the current one, and IRAS gives you 6 months to complete the sale — or the 20% ABSD is gone for good. Here are the conditions and a worked timeline.
What the remission actually is
A Singapore Citizen buying a second residential property pays 20% Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty. On a $1.6 million condo, that is $320,000 — in cash, within 14 days of exercising the Option to Purchase.
For a married couple upgrading from one home to the next, IRAS will refund that ABSD in full, provided the couple sells their first home within 6 months of the new purchase completing. The remission is a refund after the fact, not a waiver. You pay first, then claim.
This is the rule that decides whether most HDB-to-condo upgrades are comfortable or painful. It is also the rule that has burned more upgraders than any other, because the clock is stricter than it looks.
The conditions, all of them
Miss any one of these and there is no refund:
- You are married — to each other — at the time of the new purchase, and you stay married when you claim.
- At least one spouse is a Singapore Citizen. SC+SC and SC+PR couples can qualify. SC+foreigner couples do not get this remission.
- The new property is bought in both spouses' names only. No parents, siblings or children on the title.
- The first home is the couple's only residential property when the new one is bought. If either spouse owns anything else, the remission does not apply.
- The first home's sale is completed within 6 months. Completed — not just an OTP collected. The keys-and-money handover has to happen inside the window.
One more condition people trip over: after the sale completes, you still have to apply to IRAS for the refund (through the myTax Portal), within 6 months of that completion. IRAS does not refund automatically.
When the 6 months starts — this is where people get it wrong
The clock does not start when you exercise the option. It starts when the new purchase legally completes:
- Resale condo: the completion date of the purchase — typically 10 to 12 weeks after you exercise the OTP.
- New launch: the Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) or Certificate of Statutory Completion (CSC), whichever is earlier. For a project completing in 2029, your 6-month window may not even open until 2029 — but you still paid the ABSD in cash at booking.
Worked timeline, resale purchase in 2026:
Worked example, resale condo purchase · HDB sale · dates illustrative
| Date | What happens | Cash movement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Sep 2026 | Couple exercises OTP on a $1.6M resale condo. Clock has not started. | ABSD $320,000 + BSD $49,600 due by 15 Sep |
| 24 Nov 2026 | Legal completion of the condo purchase. The 6-month clock starts here. | Balance of downpayment paid |
| Dec 2026 | HDB flat listed — do not wait for the condo keys. A realistic HDB sale runs 3–4 months from listing to completion. | — |
| Feb 2027 | Buyer found, OTP granted and exercised on the flat. | Option + exercise fees up to $5,000 received |
| Apr–May 2027 | HDB sale completes, 8–12 weeks after OTP. Inside the window, with weeks to spare. | Sale proceeds land; CPF refunded with accrued interest |
| Deadline | The sale must complete by 24 May 2027. Apply to IRAS via myTax Portal right after; the $320,000 comes back in the weeks that follow. | |
Swipe to see the full timeline →
Notice how tight that is even when everything goes right. Listing in December for a May deadline means one collapsed buyer can cost you $320,000. That is why the sale plan comes before the purchase signature, not after.
Worked numbers: the Ng family
SC couple, joint owners of a 5-room flat in Sengkang worth about $720,000, MOP cleared. They buy a $1.6 million resale condo before selling.
The refund is real money, but it only exists if the sale completes on time. Run your own figure first: the ABSD calculator shows what your profile pays, with the full breakdown.
Sell first or buy first?
Both routes are legitimate. The remission is what makes buy-first possible. Whether it makes it sensible depends on your cash buffer.
Cash needed upfront
Housing between moves
Risk
Most upgrader families should sell first unless they can carry two properties comfortably for 6 months — and absorb the ABSD permanently if the sale falls through.
The full sell-and-upgrade walkthrough, with both routes mapped week by week, is on the upgrade-to-condo page. The selling side of the process is in the seller's guide.
If the window is missed
Then the ABSD simply stays paid. There is no standard extension, no pro-rated refund, and appeals succeed only in genuinely exceptional circumstances. On a $1.6 million purchase, that is $320,000 converted from a deposit-you-get-back into a permanent cost.
The two failure modes I see most: a sale priced off a neighbour's headline number that sits for months, and a purchase signed before anyone worked backwards from the deadline. Both are avoidable with one honest valuation and one dated plan.
Questions couples actually ask
Yes, if at least one spouse is an SC — so SC+SC and SC+PR couples can qualify, subject to the other conditions. SC+foreigner couples do not, and a mixed-profile couple pays the higher of the two spouses' ABSD rates in the first place.
No. For a resale property it runs from legal completion; for a new launch, from TOP or CSC, whichever is earlier. The OTP date starts nothing except the 14-day payment deadline.
The remission is lost and the ABSD stays with IRAS. There is no standard extension — which is why the sale is planned before the purchase, not after.
Yes — in cash, within 14 days of exercising the option, and not from CPF. The remission is a refund you claim from IRAS after your sale completes.
Map the clock before you sign anything
If you're upgrading, tell me what you own and what you're eyeing. I'll work backwards from the deadline with you — what your flat should fetch, when to list, and whether the buy-first route is safe for your numbers or a $300,000 gamble.